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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Apr 2007 : 23:21:59
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My players will be passing through Scornubel shortly and I've been trying to think of some kind of encounters for them while they're there that are typical of the city. It's an interesting, lively place where a lot can happen, but I just keep drawing blanks. Can anyone suggest a few ideas of short plots or rumours I could throw their way? They aren't likely to be hanging around for too long, they're on their way to Silverymoon. The party consists of a monk of Ilmater and an elf druid/wizard, who will probably want to keep a low profile and stop the party's blustering fighter getting into trouble, which he has a habit of doing. They're level 5, and I'd rather have something other than straight up combat encounters. Any help gratefull appreciated.
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Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Mumadar Ibn Huzal
Master of Realmslore
1338 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2007 : 05:30:44
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If you have access to Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast, it is worth checking the Scornubel entry. You might find interesting hooks that are (initially) non-combative.
Of course, the Candlekeep Compendiums have plenty of hooks included in their pages, which could be set in Scornubel... |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2007 : 09:43:56
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Some quick thoughts, mostly BS
A large cattle-drive arrives at the outskirts of town. For some reason the cowhands loose control of the animals and they stampede through the unwalled city causing a chaos that makes the time of troubles seem like an infants baptism. Several of the animals go throughout the gardens of Lord High Advisor Burdan Hlathimans gardens, destroying both his newly arrived shipment of Amnish wines and his beloved roses. The merchants household guards and servants starts fighting with the drovers. Danger of deaths increase by the minute.
The mage Chansrin Alvar arrives and tries to turn the frightened cattle around and out of time with the help of her spells.
For several days the city will look more or less like a mix between a dung heap and a battlefield.
The priests of Lathander tries to help the wounded.
The mercenaries and drovers of the cattle drive are nervous and paranoid about retaliations from enraged merchants and citizens.
Within town many try to keep various amounts of cattle as compensation for damages to their property. The cattle owners and their men disagree, arguments and fights flurry.
Phiraz of the Naturalists claims that some unknown creature has taken the shape of a bull and can be found within the herd. He is unsure if it was at the command of, or in fright of, this creature that the cattle stampeded.
As the characters walk through town the eye and hand of Oebelar follow them trough the streets. As they are getting paranoid he gives them a scroll bearing the name of Lady Rhessajan. The letter is a warning about some trouble for the city, maybe something connected with the cattle.
Scornubel is known for its bewildering amount of nicknames, aliases, cathcphrases and passwords. By accident one of the characters manage to say the wrong things and are taken to be the assassin Ghaulor.
Armarinma, the slightly nymphomaniac daughter of Lord High advisor Deep Ulurnan takes a liking to the priest of Ilmater.
The mage Zalirom of the Greenstones is visiting; during the stampede his beloved burbur Craw becomes frightened and runs into an alley. There the creature discover a very tempting and tasty mold and follows this down into a crevice by a building.
The building is the tavern The Jaded Unicorn, a rough place and the mage has little interest of going into such a place. The characters are asked. First to get access to the taverns cellars, without getting molested or shanghaied preferably. The creature has left a path of eaten mold down into drainage. Now its into the sewers, just follow the clean line into a cellar i the neighbouring building. Unfortunately this is the residence of the lamia Raxahaila, who for years has had a mold problem in her cellar and therefore with great joy confiscated the creature,
Now, how do you convince a lamia that her new pet must be given back, or, alternatively, how do you convince the mage that his little friend has fond a better home? |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2007 : 19:51:33
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I've already been mining Volo's, but had forgotten I had a list of hooks from the Compendium I had marked for possible usage.
Jorkens, some interesting ideas there. I like the mistaken identity one, almost anything could happen with that one. And the stampede works nicely given it's unusual for a large city like that to lack walls. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2007 : 04:42:31
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| The novel Silverfall comes to mind for some ideas. I lost one of my favorite characters fighting the Zhents in Scornubel. |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2007 : 01:22:16
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| As it turns out, the PCs were occupied with tracking down a wizard willing to cast a legend lore spell and unravelling what that meant, but I ended up throwing in the burbur plot, which turned out to be great fun. After being humbled by the lamia, they were asked to retrieve a tome from one of her rivals amd got to see rather more of the underbelly of Scornubel than they probably wanted. With some very expensive hired help, they got the tome and successfully traded it for Craw. Strangely they have no desire to return to the Caravan City any time soon, and are going to be looking for any sign that Araxis the Warlock has discovered they were the perpetrators of this crime and is seeking his revenge. So thanks for that little gem, Jorkens, it was most entertaining to run. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2007 : 09:37:06
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| If I have contributed to the use of a burbur in any adventure I am happy. Still one of my favorite creatures in the Realms. |
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Scornubel encounters
